


The things we love the most

by lerums



Series: Steve, Tony and their heir [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Back to School, Car crash (minor), Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has ADHD, Sickfic, Snow Days, Teenage Awkwardness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:44:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lerums/pseuds/lerums
Summary: The first "real" week of the year for Peter and his family offers heavy fluff with a chance of family dramatics. The light version. As usual no specific plot, but Peter continues to deal with his mental illness. Reading the previous works is recommended but not necessary.





	1. Monday

”Hey Hap. Here you go, I brought some home made granola bars. Made ‘em last night.” Peter said as he approached the car. 

 

”Wow, kid. First of all, you’re three minutes early for a change, and then you bring me baked goods? Wait, double positive.. What do you want from me?” Happy eyed him suspiciously, and Peter raised his hands. ”Nothing, I swear! I’m just so ready for school to start again. Although I wouldn’t mind if you remembered this for another time!”

 

When they were in the car, Ned texted them about the paparazzi in front of the school. It was less than 48 hours since he bad broken the news about his sexuality, so it was expected that day. Happy grumbled about the schools entrances for the millionth time. There were back and side entrances, but you’d have to walk past the front one to get to them, so there was no point in using another one for Peter to get by the vultures. This was the part he didn’t like about being famous, this uproar that happened every time something happened in their lives. 

 

But it was almost routine at that point, it was neither the first nor the last time it happened. Peter’s middle school housed several famous New York based children, so at least once a week the stairs to the main entrance would look like this. It was in the past year or so it started for Peter and his friends, since they were only there for the kids that had turned about thirteen, and so started showing themselves in the media more. 

 

Happy got out of the car first, and Peter readied himself for meeting everyone. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed about being bisexual, but everyone made such a fuss and he wished it would stop. It had to happen some time, though, and Peter had agreed it would be best to get it over with. Peter took a deep breath, and knocked on the window for Happy to open the door.

He was grabbed protectively around the shoulder as soon as he stood. ”Peter! What do you have to say to the haters that have emerged after you came out?” ”Peter, was this a stunt to raise awareness around the fact that your fathers are gay?” ”Peter, is this to get attention to yourself after Lola and Harry Osborn got coverage for their invention?” ”Peter, is it true you’re dating Captain America’s secretary?” ”Peter, is it true that you hate transgender people?” ”Peter, congratulations on coming out!” ”Peter do you have a statement to make after posting the disputed instagram post this weekend?”

 

And then they were inside. Happy had followed him in, and was brushing Peters shoulders and fixing the minor damage that had been done to his hair. ”There you go. You alright?” Peter nodded. ”Yeah, i just hope it dies down soon,” Happy shrugged. ”Probably will. In the meantime, stay inside these walls today, no funky business going outside for lunch when they’re still like this. I’ll come in and get you when you’re done. 2:30, right?” Peter nodded again, gave Happy a little wave and made his way to Ned’s locker where his best friend was waiting. 

 

There were a few whispers here and there, Peter saw that. But this was a school where the kids had grown up with being tolerant and that not being straight was natural too. So school was going to be a breeze for Peter, except for Flash. But Peter saw straight through Flash, so even though the boy acted horribly against Peter, he knew it was mainly because of their parents. Peter saw his fathers nearly every morning and at least one of them every night, them always making time for him when they were able to. Flashes mother had died a few years back and his father had just expanded his company to India. This made for loads of travel and a new girlfriends every month. Peter knew flashes nanny Roberta, she had been working for the Stark-Rogers when he was younger. She was a nice lady and provided Flash with what he needed, except for what only a loving parent could give. And Peter had two of those. It made sense that his former friend turned on him to let out frustration. Although it didn’t make it okay, it made Peter able to handle it.

 

And as on cue, Flash arrived as soon as he’d greted Ned. ”Think you can get some more attention to yourself by flashing an ugly flag? That’s disgusting, Parker.” And yeah, that was a thing too. A couple of years back someone had leaked Peter’s mothers name to the press. A a few secrets had come out, his old last name among them in addition to her rough story. It was flashes way of telling Peter he was no better than his druggie mother. ”Thanks for the support, Flash.” Peter mumbled, busy opening his own locker. He didn’t really care what people thought of his past. He knew his mother han many issues preventing her from doing good, and he also knew she handled things the wrong way, especially having a child. All in all, he was just thankful she’d put his dad’s name on the birth certificate. 

 

-

 

Between his second and third period, Peter was on his way to the art classroom when he bumped into his dad and papa in the hallway. ”Hey kid, fancy bumping into you here!” dad exclaimed. ”Guys, what are you doing here? I didn’t forget anything, did I?” Peter asked. It wasn’t that rare for parents to show up in school, but Peter didn’t know anything was planned for that day. Also, they usually sent Happy if there was an issue. Papa put a hand on his shoulder and lead him into a side hallway, a bit more secluded.

 

”I called your principal to schedule a meeting about you-know-what. He had time this morning, so it starts in ten minutes.We want you to join in about half an hour, so your homeroom teacher will come get you from class when we’ve explained the situation to them. It will be the principal, your homeroom teacher and maybe a couple of others who have time to join. Does that sound fine to you?”

 

A minute later, Peter was on his way to a bit of art before he would be collected.

 

-

 

The meeting consisted of the principal, one of the secretaries, the school counselor, his homeroom, P.E. and music teacher in addition to Peter and his fathers.

 

”Hey Peter, nice that you would like to join us.” Ms. Jane started. She had been his teacher for several years now, and they knew each other well. ”Your fathers have explained to us everything you went through during the break, so you don’t need to worry about us not knowing. We’ve just started discussing how we move forward. Now as you know, this isn’t a new thing for you or us to deal with, we’ve had our fair share of challenges over the years, haven’t we?” 

 

Pete knew what she was referring to, and after talking to doctor Pont while in the clinic, Peter had realized that his fathers were probably right with what they were saying. He had probably been dealing with ADHD his whole life. This wasn’t the first meeting they had about how to deal. ”Yeah, but it’s gonna be better now, I promise.” He told her. 

 

They talked for a while about how to handle different issues after that, and the main result of the meeting was that things were a lot like before. The biggest difference was that he would be given more time on tests as he had an official diagnosis. They agreed the Peter could tell his classmates if and when he was comfortable with that. 

 

-

 

The rest of the day went by quickly and before Peter knew it, it was time to go home. Happy was waiting by his locker when he came out, and said hi to Ned and MJ who he had met up with at lunch. ”Hey kids, how was winter break?” Ned and MJ gave short recaps of what they’d done. Happy had formed good relationships with Peters two best friends. He kept telling Pete it was simply in his job description to know who they were when Peter hung out with them, but the softness in Happys eyes told him otherwise.

 

They got to the car just fine, not as many reporters had made their way to the entrance at the end of the day. ”Happy I’ve got no homework today, do you think we could go to shield? Or is pops busy?” Happy seemed unsure. ”I’ll give him a call, hang on for a sec”

 

After a couple of minutes, Happy rolled the privacy blinds back and told Peter they would be going to the shield facility. His father was coaching a couple of classes and had some paperwork, but nothing that Peter couldn’t join him for. Peter started working on his homework that he _suddenly_ remembered after drawing the blinds back up.

 

-

 

”There you are, Peter! Hi bud, how was the first day back?” Steve shouted across the entrance hall, making people turn and look, first at Steve then at Peter. Steve was waving eagerly with some papers. Peter shrunk a bit and started walking towards, then past his papa. ”Oh my god pops, will you stop being so embarassing? I literally saw you four hours ago. It was fine.” Peter huffed, not waiting for a response before he started walking towards Steve’s office. ”I’m gonna go back to the tower then, Tony needs me there in a bit. See you, Pete” he heard Happy say from the doors. 

 

”Pete! No, Peter, not that office today. Pete? Peter, listen to me-” Peter was marching towards Steves closest office, the biggest one of the two he had. There was no way he was listening to papa at that point. Steve didn’t like that Peter always watched tv in his office, so he always wanted them to go to the smaller one. Peter thought he deserved tv that day, though.

 

As soon as Peter walked into the office knowing Steve was a few feet behind, he stomped across the floor and plopped down on a couch. ” _Ughhh_ , why do you always have to _do_ that, Papa? It’s like you have this huge need to embarass me wherever we go! For everyone’s sake, learn some human decency. Please.” There was no answer. Oh well. If it was gonna be like that, two could play that game. Peter picked up his phone and started texting Ned.

 

”Uhm, Peter?” He didn’t answer. A cough. Wait. That wasn’t papa’s cough? Peter turned around, and there was a conference table full of people. Peter knew some of them, recognising people from practices and tests he had observed at shield and some from the other offices beside papa’s. ”Oh my god. I’m so sorry! God, sorry! I’m just gonna… Go. I’m so sorry for interrupting,” he said, already grabbing his backpack and jogging out the door. He almost shut it before he remembered his papa. He said he didn’t have meetings that day, so he obviously wasn’t part of that. Peter left the door open. 

 

-

 

Steve didn’t know what just happened. Peter had just ”teenagered” completely at him (tony’s word). It was a rare occurrence, but it happened every few weeks. This time, in front of a meeting about a training mission. Steve had loaned out his office that day because it had the biggest conference table. ”Uhh… Teenagers, am I right?” Steve said gingerly after Peter practically ran out. The people having the meeting were either smiling amusedly, or looking completely gobsmacked. Later, when Steve thought about it, the people who smiled had teenagers of their own. The rest didn’t. So Steve left to find peter.

 

Peter was in the hallway outside the office. Steve shut the door after himself and stopped. Peter was frozen. He was usually so shy around other people, this was Peter’s worst nightmare. Then, Steve started to walk. Peter walked right behind him. They walked to Steve’s other office, which wasn’t in the ”big boss hallway” as Tony called it, but right beside the training grounds. It was smaller, cosier. It only had a desk and a couple of chairs. 

 

Steve sat down in a visitors chair, and Peter sat in the other one. 

 

Steve turned against Peter, and Peter turned against Steve.

 

Steve opened his arms, and Peter ditched his bag and sat on one of his papa’s thighs.

 

Steve wrapped his arms around Peter, who leaned in sideways to rest on Steve’s shoulder.

 

Steve said ”How was school?”

 

Peter said ”Exhausting.”

 

Then, nothing. They sat there for a while, before gathering their things and going home.


	2. Tuesday

It was a good morning for Tony. No, Scratch that. It was a great morning. Over Christmas break there had been one thing he and Steve was deprived of, and that was sex. Not that they thought of it in the moment, but everything was about Peter in that timespan. Again, totally fine, as it should be, but Tony was missing his boyfriend. His boyfriend, husband, best friend, co-father, roommate, his Steve. 

 

There was no loud moaning, shouting of each others names or the bed banging into the wall. That was one downside of Peter, the notorious light sleeper, being right across the hallway. But Steve and Tony made do with what they could, and god how Tony had missed this. Going without sex over long times happened once in a while, they didn’t jump at it any chance they got after living together for fourteen years. It was still a healthy sexlife, though, if one were to ask Tony. Which no one did, but he still took pride in. He was starting to grow older, after all.

 

So there they were, early one tuesday morning. Tony only hearing Steve’s laboured breathing, only seeing Steve’s beautiful upper body, only feeling his husband inside him. Steve had finished up, and hid under the covers, him and Tony joking around before Steve started blowing him off. It was heaven for the first time in the new year. Complete bliss.

 

Naturally, before Tony could come, something had to happen. This time, several weeks since last time had to be the day Peter walked in on them having sex in the morning. Tony had known this had to happen eventually, there had been some very close calls a few times already. Of course, just Tony’s luck.

 

To Tony’s surprise, Peter didn’t say a word. No ”gross”, ”oh my god”, not even an ”uhhh..”. He just opened the door, saw Tony half sitting and a still moving, not hearing anything Steve, and shut the door again. The look on Peter’s eyes must have mirrored Tony’s, because as soon as Steve noticed him tense up the wrong way and peeked up, he stopped. ”What’s the matter baby? Want to take control?” Steve got a smack to the side of the head. ”You idiot! Did you not just hear our son come in and back out just as quickly? Dammit Steve, we lost track of time again!”

 

Steve fell forward and rested his head on Tony’s chest. ”My god,” he spoke, voice muffled. ”Well, come on then, let’s shower quickly and do damage control before he leaves. I’m gonna call and tell them I’ll be late in the office today.” He patted Tony lightly before getting up and immediately calling someone. Oh god. Tony was definitely not in the mood anymore, but his dick hadn’t even softened entirely yet. It was that fresh. So Tony did the only thing he ever did in moments of doubt, he listened to Steve while pretending to disagree (Tony knew there wasn’t really anything to disagree on, but it was a habit).

 

-

 

Peter was sure he’d be traumatized forever. He was in his shower, needing something to do after that… That. It was weird, really. Steve and Tony had always been open about their sexuality and fact that a sexlife was a part of their relationship. There had been some kind of sextalk part one happening a few months earlier, and that had been fine. So Peter had always thought he would handle walking in on them a bit more… Mature? Natural? Turns out he was just as much a child on the inside as Tony seemed to think at times. So now, Peter was hiding in the shower.

 

Eventually, he needed to get out. His fingers were like raisins. It was almost 7:30, so papa should already be on his way to work. Maybe Peter and Tony could just pretend like nothing, he thought when doing his hair in front of the sink.

 

Peter was deadly wrong. The breakfast table in the kitchen was packed with food, a lot more extravagant than usual. Pancakes, eggs, the works. Both fathers noticed him as soon as he stood in the doorway, so there was no way he could just escape for school. ”Hi son, just in time for breakfast.” 

 

”Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to work?” 

 

”Called in and told them I’d be late” 

 

”Oh.” He sat down just as the others did, and stared intensely at the food. Both Steve and Tony stared just as intensely at Peter.

 

”Pass the pancakes please, dad?” 

 

”Do you want to ask us about anything?”

 

”No. Pancakes?”

 

”Sure”

 

-

 

James Rhodes was in the pickup lane outside Midtown middle school. It was tuesday, and tuesdays was pick up Peter from school days. It took a while, but eventually Peter came sneaking out the door. He hurried over to Rhodey’s car, sneaking between all the other kids hanging around the school yard. He always found it slightly amusing to watch Peter with other kids because of his size. While Peter was fourteen, actually a year older than the oldest people on his school, he would probably pass as eleven to people who didn’t know him.

 

”Hey uncle Jim,” Peter looked a bit anxious, a bit like he did when he worried. ”Have you talked to dad today?” Rhodey hadn’t, except a quick text exchange confirming him to pick up Peter. ”Why, is anything wrong? I could give him a call if you’d like?” But Peter didn’t want that, and looked relieved as soon as Rhodey had said this. ”Are we going to your place today, uncle Jim? I wanna work on the puzzle we started before christmas” ”Sure we can kid, but food first. I’m not cooking today, so where do you want to go?” Rhodey knew this kind of deflection, Peter was hiding something. Something that his dad knew about, but didn’t want Rhodey to know about. Probably some kind of trouble that would make Rhodey set limits as to what they were doing. It wouldn’t be the first time. But James let it go, saving it for after they ate.

 

-

 

When Peter was in the toilet at the sandwich shop they were in, James picked up his phone again and dialed his best friend. Tony picked up right away. ”What did he say? Is he super traumatized?” ”Tones, tones… Tones, shut up will you? He hasn’t said anything of importance, but he’s not looking me in the eyes and was really scared of me talking to you earlier. Do I need to restrict him from anything? What did he do exactly?”

 

He heard Tony sigh. ”Honeybear, it happened. I don’t know what to do, it was so weird at breakfast, I don’t know how to move past this!” Rhodey was confused. Peter was generally a good kid, what could be so horrible that the Stark-Rogers didn’t know how to deal with it?

 

”Tony, I’m this close to hanging up on you, drive Peter home and just letting you guys figure things out for yourselves!” Rhodey exclaimed slightly hushed. Peter would probably be back any minute. 

 

”Fine! Fine. So you know Steve and I had a very stressful christmas that left little time to spend time together, just the two of us. So this morning when we weren’t worrying about Peter going back to school anymore, we had sex. And I guess it had been a bit too long this time ’cause we forgot all about the time, and then Peter came in. When Steve was very obviously under the covers, moving very obviously. Anyhow, Peter turned and hid in his room before I could even comprehend what had happened, and he hasn’t said a word about it since. Oh god, Rhodey, you gotta talk to him for us. At least make sure he’s fine? I’ve been worrying about him all day, I was meaning to call you earlier but I wasn’t sure if-”

 

”Tones… Tones… Tones… Anthony!” James finally got his friends attention, shutting him up. He was grinning. They were all squirming so much, it was honestly hilarious once he understood that nothing serious had happened. ”My god, you guys… It’s fine, Tones, I’ll talk to him. See if we can resolve things once we get back.” They hung up right before Peter came back.

 

”He-Hey uncle Jim, you ready to go? I’m finished if you are.”

 

-

 

They were in Rhodey’s office, by the table specifically meant for puzzles and big lego projects. Peter and his uncle had bought the table when Peter was three years old for that purpose, the calming activities were their little thing. It opened up for comfortable silence, light or serious conversation og just joking around. Whatever they felt like that day. The pair was currently searching for puzzle pieces in silence, but it wasn’t comfortable. Rhodey cleared his throat.

 

”So, what happened this morning, Pete?”

 

Peter scoffed. ”If you’re asking, I’m gonna assume you already know.” Peter was going for playing it cool and brushing the topic off to hide how awkward he felt. He kept his eyes intensely trained at the table. ”Hey, do you think this goes in the sky or the ocean?”

 

Peter felt his uncle’s contemplating stare at him. He would have said something to dismiss the subject, but he didn’t know what that would have been. So Peter kept silent, trying to play the patience game despite knowing his uncle Jim was the most patient man he knew.

 

”Spoke briefly to your dad earlier, he said he didn’t know what to say to you. He was afraid you would distance yourself from them instead of getting over it.” Rhodey said in a calm voice, almost like he weighed each world before he said them.

 

”Well, if he, a… a grown man, an- an experienced human being, doesn’t know what to say, why does he expect me to?” Peter said, just as slowly. He really didn’t know what to do, he felt like talking to his fathers but didn’t know what he would say. ”Well,” James started. ”I don’t think any of you need to say anything, really. I remember walking in on my parents at your age, and we didn’t really talk about it either. I think the difference is that we didn’t want to talk about it, we just spent a couple of days getting past it, and then pretended like it never happened. It’s what most people do, actually.” Peter looked up. Could they just pretend like nothing happened? It wasn’t what they ever did about stuff, they always sat down to talk about things when something happened.

 

”I think the reason this is such a problem for you guys is that you always talk about everything, no matter what,” Was uncle Jim a mind reader? ”And don’t get me wrong, that’s usually a great thing, your fathers have always been adamant for you guys being close enough to talk about anything and everything. But in this particular case there’s not really much to say. And you’re all so caught up in your routine of talking things out that you don’t do what most families do. Pretend it didn’t happen.”

 

Peter was puzzled. The project on the table was long forgotten, and they had migrated over to the small couch in the room. Did the man have a point? ”Uncle Jim, do you think I could sleep here tonight?” He asked. ”Don’t get me wrong, I heard everything you said, I just… Think I’d rather sleep on it without having to talk to them, If that’s okay?”

 

Peter’s uncle smiled. ”Of course Pete, guest room is always ready for you. Although we need to make a deal. You can sleep here tonight, but you gotta call and talk to both Tony and Steve. Not talk as in talk, but you need to say goodnight, okay?”

 

As soon as they had shook on that, Peter went to the living room to pick a movie. It was always fun watching movies at Rhodey’s place because he didn’t have FRIDAY to put on whatever he wanted. James Rhodes was a DVD collector, so he had a whole wall in his living room full of movies. Peter loved dragging his fingers along the long rows and getting a good look at the possibilities.

 

-

 

Steve picked up his phone. Rhodes was calling.

 

”Hey Steve, you alright? Just as distressed as your man?” Steve sighed. He’d been slightly distracted all day, although not nearly as bad as Tony. ”Hey man, when does Pete want to come home?”

 

”That’s actually why I’m calling, I’m gonna keep him here tonight if that’s alright with you. We talked a bit earlier, and I think everything’s going to be fine, Steve. He just needs a bit of space to forget, and you guys can put it behind you. There’s not really anything to talk about when you think of it. It it alright that he stays?”

 

Steve thought about it for a second. They had prepared a bowl of popcorn and a blanket fort for when Peter got home so they could talk about it all. Maybe that wasn’t the best solution this time? ”Yeah, sure he can stay. He’s coming home tomorrow, though?” Steve heard Rhodey huff a laugh. ”Yeah Steve, you’ll get him back after school tomorrow, don’t worry.”

 

After Steve had hung up with Rhodey, he returned to the living room. ”Babe, we’ve got to take this down. Change of plans.” 

 

After explaining everything to his husband, Steve went to Peter’s room. The bed was as unmade as it used to be, the corner with the comics as messy as it used to be. Steve smiled at the laptop still lying on the bed, making it evident that Peter had broken the ”no laptop after bedtime”-rule. It hadn’t been there when Steve had shut the lights off the night before. He started to go through Peter’s dresser, finding clothes for the boy to wear the next day. 

 

-

 

Rhodey had just shut the door to the guest room where Peter was already half asleep when there was a knock on his door. 

 

They had watched a movie and played video games after eating, and it was currently 10 pm. Peter had went to bed half an hour earlier, and Rhodey had heard him call his fathers right after. Which was probably why they thought Peter was asleep already, and was now at the door with Peter’s clothes. 

 

”Hey guys, I literally just turned the lights off. He’s probably not asleep yet.” Rhodey said, knowing the men were itching to tip-toe into him and see that all was well. ”You’re welcome to sit down for a while and wait, though, I’m not going to bed just yet.”

 

”Thanks, James. Really, thanks for today.” Steve was sincere, placing a hand on James’ shoulder. Rhodey smiled at the men while leading them into the living room. He was glad that Tony and him had managed to keep their close relationship after he got married, the only change really being that Rhodes had gained a close friend in Steve too. After Peter came into their lives, Rhodey had been prepared to take a step back from the close relationship he had with the pair, but they had welcomed him into Peter’s inner circle of family, giving him the role as one of two godfathers. Rhodey loved the kid like he was his own.

 

After ten minutes, the Stark-Rogers men decided that Peter had to be asleep already, and walked silently to the guest room. ”-ad? Papa?” Was the first thing they heard when popping their heads through the now open door. Rhodey sighed. He had a suspicion this would happen, backed on the fact that it was the case every. Single. Time. The men did something like this. Such impatience.

 

”Hey bud, I thought you were supposed to be sleeping by now?” Tony said, keeping his voice to a whisper. Peter was at the verge of falling asleep before they entered. Steve sat at the edge of the bed while Tony crouched down beside the head. Peter didn’t answer, just nuzzled his head into the hand carding fingers through his hair. He visibly relaxed at this, even more so when Steve started stroking his back. ”Go to sleep kid, we were just dropping off your clothes for tomorrow. Uncle Jim will take you to school and we’ll pick you up.”

 

Steve bent down to kiss his son’s cheek, and Peter let out a sleepy giggle when Tony pecked his nose at the same time. They were still getting used to Peter actually being sleepy before falling asleep. It had been just over a week since he started his medication and just a few days since deciding on the best one. So far, they were loving it. Turns out Peter was as cuddly as ever, and always in a good mood when he was half asleep. 

 

After whispering goodnight wishes, they went back outside. ”See, now he was too tired to remember being awkward with you guys, and it’ll be all better tomorrow. It’s your turn to relax about it, walking in on your parents is so usual it’s basically a milestone. Now go home and get some sleep, I’ll return the kid in one piece tomorrow. Promise.” Rhodey said to the pair, ushering them out the door. ”See you sunday!”


	3. Wednesday

Peter was buzzing. He’d totally forgotten about the new year’s ball that was taking place on friday, but they had started handing out tickets at lunch that day. According to the teachers, dates weren’t allowed, everyone was to go as friends and classmates. (since this wasn’t high school prom, it was the nicer middle school version where the tickets were free and everyone was to be included)

 

He saw the range rover they used as a family car on the other side of the road, his fathers standing on the sidewalk in conversation with Julietta’s father. Along with Abe, Ned, MJ and Cindy, Julietta was in Peter’s base group so they did a lot of school work together. Her parents were sending her to the same school as Peter, Midtown high. She lived close to the tower and her mother was in business with Tony, so they had known each other since they were little. Now, they were walking out of school chatting about Friday, both equally as excited.

 

”Dad! Pops! Look!” Peter shouted, starting to run as he got closer to the gates of the schoolyard. Julietta wasn’t running, they were going to cross a road after all. Peter was waving his ticket in front of him, not thinking about anything else than showing his fathers how cool the tickets were, laminated and all. His papa turned around at the sound of Peter’s voice, face quickly turning from a developing smile into a panicked look. Peter couldn’t quite understand that, the ticket was so cool! He supposed he’d just have to run faster for them to see. He sped up and slipped between two cars standing on that side of the road, almost there- 

 

A hand grabbed him around the waist, keeping him from reaching his fathers. ”Peter! You’ve got to watch out!” Someone said. Peter stopped squirming as he saw a car driving past him, the driver looking back at him with a slightly panicked expression. Peter turned to the owner of the voice, to see Harry and Lola Osborn’s chauffeur, Klaus, probably there to pick up their little sister. Harry and Lola was the same age as Peter, but they had started school at the normal age so they were freshmen in high school. ”Sorry, thanks Klaus.” He mumbled, before Julietta could catch up with him. ”Peter! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, Peter!” She exclaimed, giving him a quick hug before she tugged him across the now empty road. 

 

Peter knew what was coming once he reached the other side. He’d gotten too caught up on that one thought again, too caught up to care about his own safety crossing a trafficated road. ”Peter Benjamin!” Tony almost shouted, while Steve just wrapped his arms tightly around Peter. He didn’t dare to look up at either of them, just mumbled a ”Sorry” into his papa’s chest. Peter pulled back from the embrace and took his backpack off. He said goodbye to Julietta who stood next her father. He looked just as concerned for Peter as she did. Peter accidentally looked up at his dad, who just gave him a look. The look of ”we’re talking about this when we get home, now get in the car”. Peter straightened his shoulders, not wanting to look childish on front of Julietta and her father, and went to the back seat of the range rover.

 

-

 

”Pete, can you explain what was going through you head when you were running towards the road?” Steve asked gently. They were sat at the kitchen table, and Peter was thoughtful. Both fathers were too nice about this. Tony wasn’t pacing on the floor and steve’s jaw wasn’t as tight. Pete looked down at the table and crossed his arms. He knew what the answer was, and it scared him. What if Klaus hadn’t been there, where would they be then? 

 

”Peter Benjamin, look at me. Please.” Papa said, reaching out across the table to place a hand on Peter’s crossed arms. Peter looked up, slightly embarrassed to have teared up over the whole ordeal. ”We’re not mad at you, but you need to talk to us. We know you better than anyone and that makes us able to guess what happened back there, but you need to talk about this.” Steve tried. ”Please explain to us what was going on in that big brain of yours. Remember what doctor Pont gave you as your assignment. Talk to us, Squirt, we _know_ you’re scared.” Peter’s head snapped up at Tony’s words. He felt his own expression shift from sadness and fright into anger and frustration.

 

”It was supposed to _work_! You all said it was _supposed to work!_ It’s not better, is it? You know I didn’t mean to run into the road like that, I forgot to think about it. _It’s not working!_ ” Peter stood up from his chair and walked out of the kitchen, needing a way to let out his excess energy.

 

-

 

Tony looked helplessly at Peter walking out of the kitchen, the boy’s fingers switching between clenching around nothing and tapping harshly at his own thighs. Then he looked at Steve beside him, who started off with the same expression, but now looked like he had an idea. They rose, and Tony followed his husband, counting on Steve to have a plan.

 

They followed Peter into his bedroom after knocking and being let in. He was pacing around, looking like he wanted to pick something up and throw it. Tony stopped in the doorway, not knowing what to do. He wanted to help, but didn’t know how. He hadn’t even fully grasped what the problem was. ”Peter, sweetie, please look at me. What’s not working? Peter, use your words, please.” He tried, but all he got was frustrated, almost pleading looks from the boy. Tony hadn’t been paying attention to what Steve was up to before he emerged from the closet and pushed clothes into Peter’s hands. 

 

”Peter honey, look at me,” Steve said, placing hands on each side of his son’s face so he was standing still. ”Go to the bathroom and get changed, we’ll head down to the gym for a while. Any other problem can be solved later on, _I promise_. Burn some energy first, then solve the other problems. Okay?”

 

Peter was still breathing faster than normal, hands clenching around the workout gear, feet almost walking in place. But he held onto Steve’s gaze, tears welling up in his eyes once again. ”Promise?” 

 

”I promise we’ll help.” 

 

”Okay.”

 

-

 

Peter and Steve were running on the treadmills, slowing down bit by bit. They had been running, rowing for a bit, then boxing for a long while. A good two hours after they had entered the gym floor, Peter was initiating the end. Tony had been watching, still sore from the workout he and Steve had done the day before while worrying about Peter. Steve was the one who had suggested that one too, always a great strategist in stressful situations. It was almost like watching him as captain america on the battlefield, always the man with a plan.

 

”Tony, grab us some water, will you?” Steve asked, barely panting. Tony had a normal, un-serumed body and Peter was tiny. But Steve didn’t need to exhaust himself, it was all about Peter.

 

”Thanks dad. Thanks papa. I’m gonna go shower.” Peter said once they reached the penthouse. ”That’s alright, Squirt. Dinner in forty minues.” Tony replied, already on his way to the kitchen. Steve followed him in. ”Watcha cookin’, good lookin’?”

 

”Thought about lasagna the whole gym session. Will you grab garlic bread from the freezer and preheat the oven?” Tony was tying his apron and looking around the kitchen. With Peter gone the entire previous evening, they had used their date night to pre- make some food, including Tony’s home made garlic bread and pasta sauces. It had been a great evening after Rhodey had called Steve and relaxed them.

 

”What do you think the issue is here? Did you get to think that over?” Steve wondered, changing back into casual clothing in the middle of the kitchen. ”Oi. No nudity while I’m cooking!” Tony said, swatting at Steve with the kitchen towel.

 

Steve smirked. ”That’s not what you said last night, honey,” He said, sneaking his hands around Tony from behind, holding him in place while he was chopping vegetables and heating up the stove. ”That’s because Peter wasn’t just down the hall. Please, Steve. It hasn’t even been 48 hours since he walked in on us. Let’s have the food ready for when he gets back. He needs to be comfortable enough to talk.”

 

Tony handed him a dish. ” Get this ready for the filling to go in. And set the table. Dining room, we’ll have dessert if we need to make the conversation last longer. And yeah, I gave it some thought. I think Peter expected all his ADHD signs to go away now that he started his meds. Here, put these back in the fridge, make sure we’ve got ice cream. What we saw was obviously Peter being hyperfocused on whatever was in his hand, som much that he subconciously didn’t care about his own safety. Typical symptom, we’ve seen it plenty of times before, right? All right, get the cheese out. Goes on in fifteen minutes” Steve nodded along with Tony’s argument while putting the now ready dish of lasagna in the oven.

 

”Yeah, I thought the same thing. You heard him about how ’it’ doesn’t work. I think what happened today scared him, made him frustrated with himself, diagnosis included.” Steve reasoned. They heard footsteps in the stairs, and grew quiet. They knew Peter hated it when they talked about him. It was no secret that they did it anyway, but still tried to avoid annoying him. 

 

”Hey buddy, want to help me set the table or papa making the salad?” Tony asked as their son stood in the doorway. Peter sighed, but not loud enough for Steve to hear. Steve had always been eager for Peter to help out around the apartment, and was super sensitive to Peter complaining. Tony smiled at his son, putting an arm around his shoulders. Peter leaned into it while they made their way to the dining room. ”Come on, Papa started in here earlier. Right, we need a serving spoon. Go get one from the kitchen, will you?” 

 

After finishing up in the dining room, Peter was still not back with the spoon. ”Hey, where are my favourite boys? Not leaving me out of anything, I hope?” Tony half shouted, to be heard over the extractor in the kitchen. He had a suspicion about what was going on, and made his way to the kitchen.

 

As expected, Tony found his husband with an armful of Peter. They weren’t talking, nor crying. The salad was finished, and the timer for the food told them two minutes was remaining. They were just standing there, finding comfort in each other. ”Hey, I want in on this too!” Tony exclaimed, and Steve smiled back. They extended their arms to wrap around eachother, so Peter was squished in the middle. He squirmed for a bit, and managed to turn around so his head now rested on Tony’s shoulder.

 

They stood like that, not saying anything for the remaining couple of minutes until the food was ready. 

 

-

 

”Ready to explain what you’re thinking yet, Pete?” Tony said through a bite of lasagna, accidentally spitting sauce on Steve’s hand. Peter giggled lightly as Steve slowly wiped it off with a napkin, eyebrows raised, giving Tony a death glare. It was light, though. Steve knew he had done it on purpose, to lighten the mood. They had been eating in near silence so far. 

 

”It was the ticket for the new year’s ball.” Peter said after the laughter died down. Tony looked over at Steve. In monday’s meeting with the school, they had agreed for Tony to be an extra parent present, to make sure Peter was adjusting well and figuring out how he would deal with his own behaviour. Peter knew this, but it wasn’t his favourite topic. He felt a bit watched, which was understandable, but didn’t changed the fact that they felt it necessary. 

 

”What about it, Pete?” 

 

”I thought it was cool, I was excited. Wanted to show it you you. It’s laminated too.”

 

”We’ll check it out later, sounds awesome.”

 

”Yeah. I didn’t think about looking around cause it hasn’t been so bad lately, I haven’t really needed to actively remind myself of that stuff. So I forgot about the cars.”

 

Tony put his hand on Peter’s. ”It’s all right, Pete. Papa and I was distracted too, we usually help you remember but we were talking to John. We should probably have parked on the other side in the first place.”

 

Peter sighed. ”But dad, I thought the medication was supposed to be helping? Why am I still like this?” The boy laid his fork down, placing his face in his hands.

 

Steve stepped in, rubbing Peter’s back. ”Peter, I’m sorry that it wasn’t made clear to you, but meds will probably never stop you from experiencing signs of your ADHD. It only helps a certain amount. The purpose of this is so that you can get the upper hand on it, and deal with the rest of your symptoms on your own. And just like before, you’re going to have good and bad days. Also like before, we’re going to be by your side, helping you cope. You’re going to find your balance, but you will probably always experience symptoms here and there.” 

 

While Steve was talking, Peter had started eating again, and so did Tony. Peter looked thoughtful, so neither father said anything to him. Through the rest of the meal, they exchanged details about their day with eachother, allowing Peter to eat and think in peace but also opening up for him to butt in if he wanted to. When they finished, Steve took their plates and cleaned up. Peter was still sitting down, now playing with Tony’s hand on the table. 

 

”Pete buddy, Tony, do we take the dessert to the living room?” Steve asked from the kitchen. Peter’s face lit up at this. Tony smiled at his son, getting up as the boy answered.

 

-

 

”I’m so full of ice cream you guys have to either roll me upstairs or let me sleep right here.” Pete said, leaning down so he was on his side with his head in Tony’s lap. Steve took his feet and put them on his lap.

 

”What do you think about what I said during dinner, bud? Thoughts?” Steve said, nudging the feet on his lap.

 

”Yeah, I guess it’s just not what I expected, still gotta work for it, you know?”

 

Steve thought about it for a minute. About how his son didn’t deserve this kind of struggle. About how he would take all of Peter’s struggles multiplied with ten, if it meant that his son would be relieved of them. About how kind Peter was. And respectful. And caring. And goofy, stylish, brave. His Peter. Steve teared up at his own almost poetic thoughts.

 

”Papa? Papa, what’s wrong papa?” Peter struggled to sit up between them, and settled on his knees beside Steve. Steve glanced at Tony, who was smiling sadly, but proud at the same time. They had the exact same thoughts at that moment, Steve knew that. ”Yeah kiddo, I just think you’re so strong and brave. Love you.” He said.

 

Peter visibly relaxed, realizing there was nothing wrong. He bounced from his seat and landed diagonally on Steve, and cuddled onto him. ”Love you too pops,” he whispered. Steve hugged back, rubbing circles on Peter’s back for a while. They were quiet, only the fire Tony had lit could be heard in addition to their breathing. Steve turned towards Tony and they did nothing but look into eachothers eyes. Peter was calming down even more, and Tony reached over to rub Peter’s neck like he loved when going to sleep. Steve was getting tired himself, it had been a couple of emotional days.

 

All of a sudden, he felt Peter tense up out of nothing. ”Oh god oh god oh god,” He whispered, while Steve and Tony looked at eachother, trying to figure out what was wrong. ”What’s the matter, Pete?” Tony said, reaching for his hand. Peter was already on his way out of the room. ”I just… Can’t sit with you. Not right now.” Peter said, a bit rushed. ”Think I’ll go to bed… Really early. Yeah. I’m so tired.” He pretended to yawn.

 

Steve reised his eyebrows questioningly, expecting a better answer. Tony scoffed. ”Hey, i thought we discussed talking to eachother about our issues? Or was that a dream, where you opened up over dinner and we were able to help you and you could relax?”

 

”Yeah it’s just… I just suddenly remembered… Uhm... Yesterday. And oh god I think I’m gonna throw up. G’night!” Peter said, already on his way towards the stairs leading to the bedroom floor.  
Tony and Steve let out loud laughs at the same time, filled with both humour and relief. If that was what Peter was most concerned about after the past few days, they wouldn’t have to worry too much.

-

It was 10pm, and Steve was putting out the fire while Tony tidied the rest of their ice cream stuff. Two hours had passed since Peter left the living room. ”Ready, honey?” Steve asked, Tony was still in the kitchen. ”I’ll be the in a minute, I’m just gonna turn the dishwasher on!” Was the answer he got, so Steve made his was upstairs to Peter’s room. 

Steve knocked carefully, taking the grunt he got in return as permission to enter. Peter was by his desk, doing something on his computer. ”You know pops, you guys don’t have to come in here every night. Friday is monitoring my every move, I’d go to bed about now either way. I’d brush my teeth and everything, pinky promise!” Peter ended his complaint in a fake childish voice. 

Steve laughed, and shook his head while shutting the kid’s laptop. ”In the bathroom you go, bud. By the way, didn’t we talk about trying to cut back on screen time before bed? Did you read the articles I forwarded to you? I even made your dad surrender his tablet the last forty minutes before he goes to bed,” Steve started. ”No, papa! God, why are you being so annoying tonight? By the way, I want to renegotiate bedtime. Even ned can stay up until 10:30 now, I’m the last one left on ten and I’m older than them!”

Peter started brushing his teeth while Steve shared a look with Tony, who had just entered. The boy shut the bathroom door, which Steve thought was a good thing because neither of them could hide their giggles anymore. Both Steve and Tony secretly enjoyed it when Peter got mad. He’d stomp his feet, clench his fists and his face looked exactly like when he was a toddler throwing tantrums. 

”Maybe we _should_ renegotiate bedtime. What do you say, he’s had a rough few days, should we just give it to him? A test period, maybe?” Tony suggested, and Steve nodded as Peter emerged from the bathroom, slipping past them on his way to the closet to change. ”Yeah,” Steve said, ”but he has to turn off electronics at ten still, I really think he’d benefit from that.”

 

Tony shook his head with a little laugh, thinking Steve was too stubborn on the theme. Nonetheless he agreed. It was a more content Peter that went to bed that night, half an hour later than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


	4. Thursday

Peter woke up feeling _great_. The night before, he’d managed to negotiate lights out half an hour later, for once he’d be able to tease Ned about going to bed early, instead of the opposite. The part about Ned going to bed later wasn’t really true, but his dads didn’t need to know that. He was psyched. Plus, prom was happening the next day. Plus hang out with Bucky and Sam-day. After a turbulent week, thing weren’t just looking good, they were looking great. He shrugged a hoodie on and stepped into his slippers, making his way to his parents’ bedroom. Peter paused right before entering, and knocked. 

 

There was a small laugh from inside. ”It’s safe, Pete.” He entered cautiously. 

 

”Morning, I forgot to show you the ticket for prom yesterday, look at it!” Peter was excited again, once he remembered the ticket he had kept in his pajama pocket. He climbed into the bed, sitting cross legged between Tony and Steve’s legs showing them the ticket.

 

”You know, that _is_ really cool, Pete.” Tony gushed. ”With the gold and silver, yeah that’s just as awesome as you said! I wonder which amazingly creative, person came up with these? You know, the simple yet bold background makes me think it’s a man. I’m thinking he’s probably a father from your grade who’s on the PTA, and I’m thinking he’s probably the _only_ person in the world insisting on calling it a ball instead of prom. And something tells me he’s the most handsome man of all. Don’t know why, just a feeling, really,” Peter head snapped up. 

 

”Papa, you made these?” Steve looked offended. ”Well, yeah, why are you so surprised?” He said, getting up to start the day before he got too caught up in conversation. It wouldn’t have been the first time. 

 

”I- I mean… I mean… _Dad, help me out here!_ Uh…” He stuttered, hitting Tony’s arm for him to pipe up. But Tony was busy laughing, loving it when Peter unintentionally offended Steve. Steve would always understand, he wasn’t stupid, but teasing Peter when he was floundering was hilarious. Before Peter could answer anything comprehensive, Steve was in the shower, leaving the two others on the bed. 

 

Peter took the opportunity to snuggle up to Tony, who always welcomed him even though he usually sat in the chair in the corner. ”FRIDAY, turn on the morning news, will you? It’s chilly today, I can feel it in my old bones. Wanna watch the weather.”

 

And it was a good thing they did. The thing about living in the penthouse of the tower was that they didn’t exactly open any curtains to look out at the road. Everything was so far away, they relied on FRIDAY to update them if anything was out of the ordinary. But that day was FRIDAY’s system reboot day, always within the first two weeks of january. That’s why her scanners were out until 10am, so she hadn’t alerted them to the absolute blizzard that had formed throughout the night. 

 

”Well, Pete, it looks like you’re staying home today,” Tony said, shaking Peter a bit, who had fallen back to sleep on his father’s arm. ”Huh?”

 

”Snow day, bud.”

 

Peter opted to snuggle further into the blankets at the promise of a day off. He heard Steve exit the shower, the conversation between dad and papa about who was going where. He heard them growing slightly annoyed at each other, because ”Bad guys don’t take snow days, Tony, neither does shield, today will be so busy and he can’t watch TV in my office all day” and ”Well, I can’t exactly take a snow day when I take an _elevator_ to work, Steve!”. He pretended to sleep through that one, feeling slightly like a burden. He also heard Steve leaving for work after he had leaned over Tony to stroke his hair, before kissing both of their foreheads.

 

Peter wasn’t ever alone in a building. They had allowed him to be alone in the penthouse for short periods of time, but there was always some kind of security around the kid. Peter didn’t really mind, because part of his security detail was his family, so it wasn’t normal that he went with the normal security team. Kids in school with similar situations to Peter had normal security hanging around all the time, and they complained all the time.

 

”You can stop pretending to be asleep now, we’re not mad at eachother.” Peter heard about two seconds before the blankets were ripped off his body. Tony was at one side, making Peter get up and help make the bed. 

 

”How about you take a slow morning here while I’m downstairs in meetings? Then you could come to the lab with me at around ten, get lunch together, you could join my conference with secretary of defence and some other hot-shots and come back here early? Or chill in my office at the end of the day. Your choice, really.” Peter’s dad suggested as they made their way to the kitchen.

 

”I thought all of them were choices I had? What if I want to hang out here all day, or down in the lobby?” Peter teased, his dad hated him hanging about in the lobby. Peter never knew the exact reason, but Happy had hinted that it had something to do with the weakened safety in the area.

 

”Hey, I’ll have you know we just negotiated new bedtimes and that sounds suspiciously like someone trying to be bumped back half an hour, if you ask me.” Tony grumbled, making a beeline for the coffee Steve had prepared before he left.

 

-

 

Steve decided to pick up the phone, he knew Peter would be alone at the penthouse as the time was 9:30. 

 

It answered after two rings. ”Hey papa, what’s up? Did you get to work alright?” 

 

”Yeah, yeah. Just fine. We’re supposed to have morning briefing but we’re making good use of the weather and training all day. I’m looking at them now in the field, they’re all miserable.”

 

”That sounds fun, wish I could see it too.”

 

”I’m sorry you couldn’t join me but I’ve got so much to do today, you would have been stuck in my office the whole day. I hope you didn’t get too uncomfortable when I discussed that with dad, I could see you were just pretending.”

 

”No, I mean for a while it was kinda uncomfortable, but dad noticed, went on a rant that lasted all through breakfast. I’m considering ditching lab time in exchange for not needing to listen to him.”

 

Peter could hear the smile in papa’s voice. ”I look forward to getting home, I was thinking I’d bring Bucky and Sam, so you don’t miss out on your day with them? Dad and I have some stuff we need to do anyways.”

 

”That’d be great, papa. I’ll catch you later, all right? I need to go meet up with dad.”

 

”Okay, bye, love you!”

 

”Love you too.”

 

-

Peter could barely keep his hands to himself. His dad had ditched lab time to take a tour through the R&D department, giving Peter an update on all the stuff SI was working on at the moment. They had been talking to a couple of engineers about the entire field of renewable energy for over two hours, which had been thrilling to say the least. Peter knew his papa usually knew about anything SI did, but this was a project Steve didn’t even know much about. Peter was one of very few people in the world who knew about the new line of energy sources SI was releasing in a little less than three years. Now, they were looking at the next Stark Phone, complete with lots of the improvements including a few Peter had suggested.

 

”Wow, dad, can I try it? Like, just hold it in my hand for like, like, three seconds?” Peter pleaded, the lab worker had already started shaking her head at him until he received a glare from mr. Stark. ”Sure bud, but you’ll get first wave of testing sample either way, I don’t get how you’re so intrigued.”

 

But there was something for Peter, about being in such a lab, the entire floor dedicated to that small object, getting to work on it, look at it, be a part of such a process… ”I don’t know dad, it’s cool.”

 

-

 

At lunch, Tony decided they’d go to the cafeteria. Tony didn’t love the space, he was in the process of redoing it, so he usually went to the penthouse to grab some lunch if he had time for more than a coffee. The main reason, though, was the stares he received when he was there. Sure, he knew some of the department heads here and there, and he worked closely with a lot of the engineers, but to everyone in the room, he would always be the boss’ boss. It wouldn’t get any worse while bringing his kid along, they’d receive even more stares, but for some weird reason, Peter loved the cafeteria.

 

”What do you want, Squirt? Hot meal is burgers but they’ve got some salads, wraps, baguettes… I’m sure they’d be willing to make you something if you ask them nicely.” He could see Peter thinking about it. God, that kid treated every decision like it was his last. Goddamn adorable.

 

”I’ll have a burger, and then we have to get that apple pie that they had last time, that’s the best!” Tony laughed a bit at his son, shaking his head. 

 

”Sorry, got a text from pops saying we’d have dinner and dessert with bucky and Sam. Pie now is just gonna ruin the rest of the day for you and you know it.” The boy had the biggest sweet tooth, Steve and Tony always had to limit him. He always lost focus completely when he had too much sugar, but would never admit it out loud at the risk of his own words being used against him. ”But burgers are fine?” ”Do you want me to take the burger away?” ”I’m gonna shut up now.”

 

Tony knew how much Peter loved the cafeteria. While Peter wasn’t the one who had the guts to stand out in a crowd of kids, he could probably live on attention from adults forever. And when you’re Tony Stark’s son in the Stark Industries cafeteria, there isn’t really any person who doesn’t want to talk to you.

 

”Yeah I’m starting high school in the fall. Yeah no, they declared it a snow day so I’m hanging around here today, inspecting the old man’s work. Haha, yeah you know how it is, Gary. No I haven’t seen that yet, actually. Dad, why didn’t we go to the car shop earlier?” Tony snapped out of whatever daydream he had at the sound of Peter’s name for him. ”Hm?”

 

”The car shop. Why didn’t we go?” 

 

”Oh. Well, they were doing some wielding before lunch. You’re not visiting a wielding car shop. You’re visiting when they’re pressing numbers onto computers and actually have time to talk to us. But hey, bud, look at the time. We really need to get going, I’ve got that conference call, remember?” 

 

They had been in the cafeteria for an hour, different workers of all kinds, levels and departments had been by to talk to Peter. Not that it surprised Tony, Pete was very likeable. 

 

”Dad, why are going home?” Tony sighed. The biggest reason was that the loud cafeteria had given him a killer midday headache that could only be solved by coffee from the machine in their kitchen and a couple of painkillers. 

 

”We need to look presentable Pete, this is white house people we’re talking about. Charcoal three piece, you can use the armani one from this fall, white shirt, striped tie. Any colour.” Tony didn’t like giving those DC pricks anything to pick on them about, so he tried to avoid the grease stained shirts at those particular meetings.

 

-

 

Peter shrugged, shirt, pants, shoes and vest on in a few minutes and went into his fathers bedroom with the jacket and tie. Once entered, Tony looked him up and down for a few seconds. ”Handsome boy. Do you need cuffliks?” 

 

”Yeah.”

 

”All right, pick someone and come here, I’ll tie and fasten everything.”

All in all, they were in and out of the penthouse in seven minutes. Thank god for cleaning ladies keeping the clothing pressed and ready to go.

 

Peter was nervous. He’d joined in on conference video chats several times before, but never with people this high up. It was usually with other companies. ”Dad, do I have to be on screen? Can’t I just observe from the side?”

 

”Well, you can, but then it’d be meaningless to have dressed so nicely. Listen Pete, you do as you want. I don’t want you to join something you’re not comfortable with. But now that you’re able to sit still and listen to what goes on, I think you’ll find it interesting and educational.” Tony’s hands were on Peter’s shoulders as they stood outside his office. Peter felt a new sense of pride of his dad noticing his increasing ability to concentrate, and shot his chest out a bit. ”Yeah okay, I want to.”

 

”Great, I think you’re going to like this. FRIDAY, patch us through to the chat.” They were still outside the office door. ”You’re in, boss.” came from the roof.

 

”Okay bud, do exactly as I do when we walk in. Dramatic entrance and all, you know? Gotta keep ’em on their toes.”

 

Peter watched as Tony placed a hand on his top button, and opened the door. Peter was quick to do the same. They walked over to the end of the conference table where the camera was set up with two chairs. Peter could hear the other participants talking about the two chairs when they were still out of shot, wondering if ”Captain America was going to join again”.

 

”Hello boys, sorry we’re late, you know how it is.” Tony stopped their murmuring. ”I’m sure you know who this guy is, it’s snow day here in the city so he’s joining us.” Peter mimicked tony in popping the jacket buttons open, taking it off and hanging the garment nicely over the chair before they sat down.

 

”Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you, young Stark. I’m sure you must fine these kinds of meetings boring though, lots of the scientific talk is going to go over your head. Stark, do you really think this is better than sticking him with a TV?” One of the men suggested. Tony snorted.

 

”Oh, believe you me. If he had oversight over the dates and details like me, I could have stuck him here with you guys alone. Kid’s fourteen and probably smarter than you all combined.”

 

There were murmurs, but the small talk ended and the real meeting began.

 

-

 

The conference call was over, and Peter slumped over to lean on his fathers shoulder. ”That was kinda boring, dad. I mean, it was fine, but it would have been better if those guys understood what they were talking about! I almost laughed when you had to explain osmosis to them.”

 

Tony reached around Peter’s waist and helped him up. ”Yeah, it’s like that a lot of the time. But otherwise it was kinda cool, right? You even got to hear more about this clean energy-plan, it’s kinda fascinating how we can do work that will literally save the planet, right?”

 

Tony could see Peter thinking about that. Every time he mentioned saving the planet, Peter would mention iron man. ”Yeah, I know, iron man and all that. But this is a much more peaceful and, honestly, stimulating way to do so, don’t you think? A lot less violent and dangerous.”

 

Peter agreed on that. ”Dad, can I go back upstairs now? This suit is itchy and Abe and Ned got to play playstation the entire day, I’ve barely played after new years!”

 

Tony smiled. The boy was always nice about it, but he hated how little time he got for video gaming. And it wasn’t like they were playing really violent games, if they did FRIDAY would have alerted him. ”Yeah, but I got an email about work you should do before school tomorrow, so that first. On the kitchen table, I’m sticking FRIDAY on you to make sure!”

 

No more than ten minutes later, Tony was in his office in an impromptu meeting with a couple of developers when FRIDAY spoke up. ”Boss, Peter would like to speak with you. He wants to move to the living room.” Tony sighed. ”Patch him through, Fri.”

 

”Hey dad, can I move to the couch? It’s much more comfortable, I swear I’ll do my work!

 

Tony could basically hear the puppy dog eyes and thanked the lord that it wasn’t a video chat. He would have given in immediately. ”Pete, I’m in a meeting right now but remember what we said about focus? Living room doesn’t work out well, you know that. You want to finish everything quickly right? Play with your buddies? Best bet is sit tight in the kitchen. Pops will be home in half an hour, he’ll help you out.”

 

”Ugh, fine.”

 

”Good boy. See you later then. Love you!”

 

”End call.”

 

Tony winced. He hated grumpy “end calls”. Luckily, sour Peter never lasted long so he’d be fine by the time he got back upstairs. ”Sorry about that, gentlemen. Kid struggles a bit with concentration. Where were we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


	5. More thursday

Peter was so bored. So so so so so bored. Almost an hour had passed since he last spoke with his dad, papa should be home by now. He took up his phone and posted a couple of instagram stories about being stuck with homework on a snow day. Then he called Steve.

 

Steve didn’t pick up. Dad had said he would be home thirty minutes ago, what was keeping him? ”FRIDAY, patch me through to dad again, will you?”

 

”Sure thing, young sir.”

 

After a few seconds, his dad’s voice filled the room again. ”Pete? Isn’t papa with you?”

 

”That’s what I’m calling you about. He’s still not back and not answering his phone either. I’m getting worried, dad.”

 

He could hear Tony’s thinking sounds, the rustling and tapping signalling he was probably looking for Steve’s tracker. ”Uh, yeah. _Oh god._ Uh, Pete, can you call uncle Happy and tell him to come to the penthouse? I need to do something. Love you, talk later!” And a click.

 

Peter wasn’t stupid, he knew his dad’s worried voice when he heard it. ”Fri, can you tell me papa’s location right now?” 

 

”Yes, he is located by the I-678, three miles from the shield and avengers compound. He is standing still.”

 

Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god. ”Peter sir, would you like me to call Happy Hogan for you and explain the situation?” ”Yes, please, oh god, Friday what’s going on?”

 

A few seconds passed. Peter wasn’t really expecting FRIDAY to answer his rethorical question, but it seemed like his dad had been in such a hurry getting out that he’d forgotten to tell friday what she could and couldn’t tell Peter. He wouldn’t have wanted her to answer that question. 

 

”It seems like Steven Stark-Rogers has been part of a car accident on his way home from work. His vitals are all stable so as far as I can tell he is doing fine. I expect Tony Stark-Rogers to bring him to Stark tower as he has almost reached location with his iron suit.”

 

The elevator dinged a couple of minutes later, and Happy stumbled out. He came straight to the kitchen. ”Peter, it’s all going to be fine. I promise you. I spoke briefly to your dad, him and your pops will be on their way home as soon as they can. It’s going to be _fine_.”

 

Peter heard his uncle loud and clear, but it didn’t stop the first tear to emerge. Or the second. Soon enough, he could feel himself shaking while Happy lead them into the living room, settling right next to Peter on the couch. Fifteen minutes later, FRIDAY let them know that both men would be home within ten minutes.

 

-

 

”I still don’t get why you had to fly out in your suit, Tony. You could have at least tried calling me again, or checking my vitals! You’re going to get so much shit from DC now, flying without permission like that.” Steve complained. They were still in the air and it was freezing cold, but Tony had the suit heater and Steve rarely felt cold anyways, so they were both in great shape to bicker on their way back home. 

 

”I don’t _give a shit_ , Steve! There was a significant chance you were lying half dead under a car wreck, I wasn’t about to take any chances! _Damn you_ and not having Fri in you car, I’m installing her tonight. I need her to be able to run diagnostics and give me information about you car. If I had that, I wouldn’t have panicked so much today, you know that.”

 

Steve quieted down, but fastened his grip on Tony as they closed in on the tower. ”Is Peter okay?” Tony tried remembering what had been said and done before he had left, and realized he had forgotten to limit Friday’s information flow to him. All Peter knew was that his papa had been in a car accident. 

 

”Probably not, all I did before I left was send Happy up. Sorry.”

 

Considering what they knew, no one was surprised when Peter was already out on the landing balcony as they arrived. His cheeks had tear streaks and his eyes were red, and his face was the embodiment of worry. At the same time, though, one could easily see there was so much energy inside the teen’s body. He was literally jumping up and down, Happy standing behind Peter trying to ground him. ”Papa! Papa, are you all right?” Peter shouted. They were fifty feet away from the balcony, but could already hear him. ”Looks like you’re gonna have a koala on you for the rest of the day, hon” Tony said right before they landed.

 

As soon as they touched down, Peter tugged himself out of Happy’s loosening grip around his shoulders and ran up to the pair. ”Pops, I thought you were dead!”

 

Steve climbed off Tony’s suit so it could dismantle. ”Hey, buddy. No, the car slipped on the road, and I ended up in the ditch. I’m fine, I just couldn’t get home on my own. The tow truck was on it’s way already though, so I would have been home in an hour or two.” As Steve spoke, he turned his boy around and they all went inside. It was freezing out, and Peter was still in his shirt from earlier. 

 

After Happy had expressed his relief that nothing too bad had happened to Steve and excused himself to go back downstairs, they settled for hanging around in the kitchen. Peter insisted on having Steve help him with his homework, and Tony scrambled around them pretending to do something effective. He wasn’t about to admit it, but like his son, Tony too felt a strange need to be close for the rest of the day.

 

-

 

Bucky had seen Steve leaving work early to hang out with Peter, and told him he’d see him later. He hadn’t heard anything else. He had picked Sam up on his way back from work, and they’d gone straight to the tower. ”Snow day my ass. If people only knew how to drive safely, this would be no issue. You know there are loads of western countries that don’t have anything resembling snow days, right?” Bucky complained. Sam had gotten the day off like so many others, and frankly, Bucky didn’t see the point. 

 

”Calm down Buck, it’s one extra day for people to relax. What’s the big deal?” Sam retorted. They were in the elevator on their way to the Stark-Rogers residence. Bucky just shook his head slightly, smiling at his fiancé to show how he wasn’t actually upset.

 

The doors opened, and Sam shouted into the apartment to locate the small family. They could hear sounds from the kitchen. Bucky braced himself to catch the teenager welcoming him. But as they entered the kitchen, nothing happened. Peter was sat on a stool by the kitchen island, Steve standing on the opposite side. They were studying something on a tablet before looking up at the guests. 

 

Bucky was confused. Where was his hug? He glanced at Sam, who was eyeing everyone else in the room. ”Hey Sam, Bucky, did you know papa was in a car accident today?” Peter exclaimed once he processed who was in the room. ”Oh.” Oh. Wait, what?

 

”Steve, what happened, are you okay?” Bucky wondered, trailing over to the island right away. Steve put up his hands, as if to push away potential prodding fingers and investigative eyes. 

 

”I’m fine. Peter, you’ve got to stop calling it an accident, people always think something horrible happened! The car just slipped on the highway heading back, I ended up on the side of the road. Of course, when I was half an hour late these two panicked, and I ended up being flown home by iron man before the tow truck could show up.” Steve explained, and Bucky snickered as much as Sam did. They were both definitely imagining Steve clinging on to Tony’s suit, in addition to stressed Tony. 

 

Sam had already migrated over to Tony to talk about dinner that the two were planning together. Bucky had noticed that Sam had brought over som pre-made food in a bag, but wasn’t allowed to look into it. 

 

”Glad to hear you’re okay, Stevie.” Bucky said, getting lost in the video that was still playing on the tablet, but not before giving Peter an affectionate hair ruffle. ”Hey, bud.” 

 

-

 

As the evening went by, Peter slowly but surely felt peaceful again. He thought about how everything had been fine with Steve, how nothing ever seemed to get to that man. He knew by his dad’s look that he was thinking the exact same thing. Steve was their rock. He was their rock that required loving, stable relationships to be so, but he was one of Peter’s biggest heroes. 

 

Peter was painfully aware of the clock ticking ten pm, but was hoping no one noticed. They only had like an hour left of the movie they were watching and it was a really action-packed part. He barely had time to finish the thought before the screen went black. ”Papaaaa! Why are you like this? Our poor guests should get to finish the movie,” Peter started argumenting, turning around to sit on his knees preparing to throw out more reasons. Before he could do so, a hand covered his face. 

 

”Not on a school night, no. Your uncles are sleeping over so I can ride with Bucky in the morning.” Steve reasoned. A sleepover on a school night was boring, though. Never any fun. ”But dad, if I have the day off tomorrow and Sam is too, then we can stay up longer!” He turned to the other father, often much more open for Peter’s logic.

 

”No can do, bud. It’s friday, so you’ll have doctor Pont at nine tomorrow, we’re not cancelling. You’ll manage to walk one block when Sam’s with you.” Tony argued back, smiling regretfully at him. 

 

”Wait. Tomorrow’s friday, right? What will happen to the prom? Papa, please tell me that’s still on?” Peter turned back, inching subcounciously closer to Steve, who he was already almost on top of. It was a thing when he wanted something, knowing they were all easily influenced by touch.

 

”Sorry Peter, we’re sending out a message in the morning. Doesn’t matter if the roads are better by the afternoon, we won’t have time to set it up. We were supposed to start today, so it’ll be postponed at least a week.”

 

Well, that made for a pretty shitty night for Peter. He slumped back down to the couch, at least relishing the extra time he didn’t use at sleep. The adults were talking about something Peter didn’t really want to focus on. He was noticing how he was used to going to bed a bit earlier. His bones were kind of achy, and his eyes were itching. Peter let out an accidental yawn, which unfortunately made everyone else look at the clock on the wall. It was ticking towards half past, and his urge to argue bedtime once more was washed away by papa tightning an arm around his shoulders and stroking him over the head. 

 

”Can I just sleep on the couch tonight, papa? I promise I won’t ask for anything again this whole month,” the last part was slightly muffled as Peter turned his face into the shoulder he was resting on. He heard a typical dad snort, followed by ”Don’t make promises you can’t keep, bean. Come on, up we go.” Then his arms were being tugged at by those familiar, calloused hands.

 

After saying good night to the others downstairs, Peter pretended to lean on his dad and almost fall over the whole way upstairs and into his room. He was annoying Tony into pushing him jokingly onto the bed as soon as they got there, wrapping his son up in the top blanket, face and all. This prompted Peter to pull the man down with him, starting a small wrestling match on the bed. Which all of a sudden stopped, Peter’s giggles dying down as he tried figuring out why Tony was eyeing him suspiciously. ”You’re warm. As in fever warm.” He said, feeling Peter’s forehead, cheeks, neck, back.

 

”I’m not sick dad, I’m just tired. It was a long day, you know?” Peter tried to reason, now already on his way to the bathroom to get away from the medical examination.

 

Peter started brushing his teeth, but he could hear his father on the outside. ”I’m not saying you need to do anything now, Pete, but if you’re under the weather I’m not sure I want you going to the appointment tomorrow. A public office and the cold weather? Don’t think so. You know what, I just made up my mind. You and Sam will have to do with penthouse activities tomorrow.” Then there was nothing, and then there were footsteps coming to the room.

 

”Pete, sweetie, come out and let me look at you.” Yep, Peter should have known. Papa was there, probably with his thermometer of doom. Suppose the achy bones and itching eyes weren’t just tiredness.

 

”You can postpone that until the morning, Papa. I’m just going to sleep now anyways, no need for any check up until the morning, I assure you that’s what dr. Green would say, too.” Peter complained, not even looking at either father as he continues his bedtime routine to the closet. There were huffs.

 

”Don’t worry, Pete. I know. I just wanted to see you for a couple extra minutes. Uncle Bucky, uncle Sam and I will be leaving before you wake up. We just got called out on a mission that will probably last through the weekend.” Steve explained, and Peter was already jumping back out of his closet, pants only halfway on. Steve had sat down on the bed, Tony standing beside him. 

 

He laid down and let himself feel a bit childish as his papa tucked him in, snuggly under the covers. ”Where is it? Will you at least be in the same time zone?” Steve shrugged. ”I’m not sure time zones will matter that much, it’ll be pretty intense from start to finish this time. In and out, really. I’ll try to call, but I can’t promise anything. Sorry, bud.”

 

After saying their goodnights and goodbyes, Peter turned over to get some sleep. He wouldn’t manage to sleep for a while, but he owed papa to try. It wasn’t often that Steve got called out on rushed missions like that. When he did, it only told Peter that it was more dangerous. Steve didn’t like them either, mostly because they all liked to prepare for someone going away a couple of days in advance. 

 

Peter changed his position the first time of many that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


	6. Friday

Peter woke up at his usual two minutes to seven, and immediately felt his back ache. He had slept for about five hours, which Peter thought wasn’t bad, remembering Steve’s mission as he woke. Well, he was clearly not feeling well and Tony never had any pressing matters on fridays. Especially not fridays where Steve had just left for a mission. He brought his blanket that wasn’t actually his favourite, but he knew reminded dad of toddler Peter, and made his way across the hall.

 

Once inside his parents’ bedroom, Peter went over to Steve’s side and crawled into the middle of the mattress. Sleepy mumbles started falling from his dad’s lips. ”You know, it hasn’t even been to days since I told you to stop taking my side. You’re a big fella, I get it. Get your own half of the bed. Oh, wait, you’ve got one already.”

 

Peter huffed a quiet laugh, but continued to make himself comfortable. He straightened Tony’s arm out to rest his head on. That’s when his father’s brows furrowed, quickly followed by a small smile. ”Oh, but this isn’t my mattress-stealing husband, is it? Must be an intruder. Go away, intruder! Oh, where is cap when you need him?” Tony was still mumbling slightly into his pillow, eyes still closed. Peter draped his blanket over himself, sitting back up again making him slightly dizzy. Yep, something had definitely broken through his weak ass immune defence.

 

”Dad, I don’t feel well… Can you stay home today?” Tony tightened his arms around Peter and kissed the top of his head. ”I was planning on anyway, but why don’t the two of us do a real lazy day, huh? We’re gonna have to move eventually but I say that right now, we postpone breakfast until we feel like it.” After they agreed on what Tony suggested, dad did however get up. Peter let out an offended sound at the loss of his father’s warmth, he was still freezing.

 

”Dad, papa isn’t here! We don’t need to!” Peter exclaimed as Tony came out with the infamous thermometer. ”You know that’s a lie, Pete. If this turns into something worse, we need to be able to have some reference numbers, and I’m not about to pretend like you haven’t gotten worse since last night. Now, I know you like papa to do this but you’re stuck with just me. Sorry about that.”

 

Peter looked at sadly at his dad who had climbed onto the bed again. ”I’m sorry, Pete. The ear thing isn’t working anymore, and this really is the easiest way to get the correct reading. Jesus, Pete, stop it with the looks. Papa just left, I still miss him too much to give into your tricks.”

 

”Fine,” Peter grumbled, laid on his stomach and pulled the pants halfway down. ”be quick, then.”

 

The soothing hand rubbing his back was enough to make Peter sleepy again, and he sucked in a sharp breath in surprise as Tony made quick process of putting the thermometer in. ”Shh, you’ll be fine, Pete. Just a sec and it’ll be done.” 

 

”There we go! Right. As expected, not great. 102. We’ll do one more before dr. Green goes home today, in case I need to call. Oh god, Pete, don’t pretend like I’m the bad guy here. It’s not that bad and you know it, suck it up. Come on, make space for me too. Wanna watch a movie before we get up? A show?”

 

-

 

Tony rubbed Peter’s back soothingly. The time was twelve, midday. He had just cleaned the kitchen after their brunch, and come back to Peter buried in throw blankets. Tony feared Peter had caught something bad this time, he had heard rumours of employees not feeling well after Peter had left the SI offices the previous day. Stupid, Tony thought to himself. Bringing Peter into the bacteria fest that is the cafeteria? Stupid. Especially when everyone had just returned to work from big family gatherings over christmas with all sorts of germs.

 

”Hey, Petey-pie? I want you to take some tylenol, think you can do that?” He almost cooed at his teenager. The usually energetic kid was slumped across the couch, not bothering to cover his bare foot with the blanket. ”No, nothing? How about some water? It’ll soothe your throat?” Peter shook his head weakly. His eyes were glazed and half closed. Yeah, Tony was getting worried. This was way worse than the usual cold. He decided to call dr. Green and hear her thoughts on the matter. 

 

First, though, he knew the doctor always liked them to monitor his fever. It was only two hours since they had measured again, before going down to breakfast, but Tony was always on the safe side before calling dr. Green.

 

”Pete, jello-man, come here,” Tony gathered the lump of sick teenager in his arms, shedding blankets as they rose together. ”Yeah, I’ve said it before. I’m not papa, I can’t carry. You’ve gotta help me out here, okay Pete?” He counted the affirmative mumble he got as an answer a win, put his arm around Peter, and they shuffled for the elevator to go upstairs. Tony had a nagging feeling they’d have to get dressed to go out soon.

 

”Okay Pete, lie here. I’m going to take your temperature real quick, and then call dr. Green. Okay? Okay, great.”

 

-

 

”Mr. Stark-Rogers! Am I right in that it’s not just you being chatty making you call today?” She responded, as always chirpy and calming at once. 

 

”Yeah, you’ve got that right. Peter started feeling something last night, and has gotten worse ever since. He was barely awake enough to join me in walking upstairs just now. He’s completely knocked out, I’m getting worried.”

 

”Right. So how has the fever been developing?”

 

”Still rising as far as I can tell. 102 at seven, 102.8 at ten and 103.4 just now.”

 

”Uh-huh. So a high fever, exhaustion. Any other symptoms?”

 

”He said his head hurt earlier, and he got dizzy from any movement earlier. I think it’s still like that, to be honest. He’s a bit congested, the nasal spray doesn’t help, and he’ll barely swallow down anything because his throat hurts.”

 

”Okay. Has he been to the toilet after waking up?”

 

”Uhh, wait a sec, doc,”

 

…

 

”No, he hasn’t been since last night. Says he doesn’t need to. As mentioned, I haven’t really been successful in getting him to drink.” 

 

”Okay. Yeah, I’ve got to say I think you should take him to the hospital if the fever goes over 103.8, or if it doesn’t go under 103 before.. Let’s say five. It might be just a cold virus hitting him hard, but it might be influenza. It sounds like he’ll need fluids from an IV line if he doesn’t drink on his own soon, as you know fluids and rest is really the only treatment. Maybe some antivirals.”

 

”Yeah. Yeah, all right. Right, yeah. Sorry, just writing this down.” His breath was shaking a bit at this point.

 

”Is your husband there with you?”

 

”No, he got called away late last night along with everyone else. Just Peter and I here right now,”

 

”Tony. I know you guys by now. You’re fully capable to deal with this alone. Listen to your gut, that’s your dad talent speaking. Peter will be fine, like he always is. Do you hear me?”

 

”Yeah. Thanks, doc.”

 

”It’s why I’m here. Remember, don’t hesitate with bringing him to the ER. They know him at your hospital, they’ll take care of you. Either way, he will turn out fine in the end. And if you remember, give me a call Monday morning and update me, will you?”

 

”Yeah, of course. Bye.”

 

-

 

It was three thirty, and Tony’s last three hours had gone by in a blur. They had settled on the bed again, where Peter had been half sleeping the whole time. Tony had a glass filled with water and a straw ready for every time the boy opened his eyes, but he would only take small sips now and then. Tony knew this wasn’t going in the right direction. ”Dammit,” he cursed to himself.

 

Tony sent off a text to Steve. ”Hey dearest, Pete’s in bad shape again. Worse than the usual cold. Spoke to dr. Green and got some tips earlier, so I’m gonna take him to the hospital now. He’ll be fine, probably just needs some fluids. Don’t worry too much! We’re bundling up, driving safe. Peter says hi, stay safe!! Love you!!”

 

After laying Peter down flat, he went into the bedroom across the hall. Peter needed warmer clothes if they were going outside of the penthouse. And a couple of changes, just in case. And then tony needed to get dressed. And get Peter’s records from the drawer in the hallway. And his medication from the kitchen cabinet. And a bottle of water, and juice pouches. And a couple of granola bars in Tony’s coat pocket. Was he forgetting something? Ah, alerting Happy of their excursion. 

 

-

 

After Tony had literally helped Peter get into his warmer sweats in addition to his winter wear, the two were in the elevator towards the garage. Peter was leaning heavily into Tony’s side, who held his boy up by the armpits. ”Dad?” 

 

”Yeah, baby boy? Do you want water?”

 

”No, but can you take my hair away from my eyes?”

 

There was no hair in Peter’s eyes, but Tony knew what he was after. He reached up with his free hand and carded his fingers along Peter’s scalp until the elevator doors opened. Happy rushed forward and took the bag of stuff from Tony, helping them settle into the car before driving off for Lenox Hill. 

 

-

 

Happy was sticking with the father and son until they were situated, he was currently behind them on the way into the emergency room. He felt sorry for the kid for having to go through this again, but he had seen it coming. It had been over a year since the last time they had to take him to hospital, and throughout Peter’s upbringing there had been many trips to that particular ER.

 

Tony handed Peter over to Happy for a moment, talking to the welcoming nurse behind a counter. ”Hey, my kid needs a bed. Peter Benjamin Stark-Rogers, fourteen years old.” Happy didn’t listen after that, having more than enough to focus on with the kid. He was almost sleeping while standing up. Almost. 

 

A couple of minutes later, Tony took hold of Peter again, leading him over to a free bed. Aware that they were attracting looks, Happy placed himself between Peter and the other patients. No one were taking pictures right now, but it wouldn’t have been the first time someone tried that. Which was why Happy was shooting glares at everyone even glancing in their direction. Peter was priority number one at all times, a rule set by both the Stark-Rogers men and Happy’s own gut. The boy was vulnerable in some areas of his life and resilient in others, but Happy’s goal was that Peter shouldn’t need to worry about that at all, at least until he was older.

 

”The doctor should get to us pretty fast, Hap. Would you mind waiting until we know how long we’re staying?” ”No problem, boss. I’ll just take a look around the area, if you don’t mind.”

 

-

 

”Yep, Peter, this looks like a bad case of influenza. That’ll explain the exhaustion, otherwise I may have thought it was just a cold.” The doctor was wrapping up his exam, rolling Peter’s hoodie back down. He turned to Tony and nodded for him to take a couple of steps away. Happy was there with Peter, so it was fine.

 

”We’ve seen this case of the flu several times the past few days, Peter and the others with low immune defences are at risk of becoming pretty sick. He’s still not experiencing any other symptoms, though, such as congestion or coughing. I’m guessing it’ll arrive within a day or two.”

 

Tony nodded along, occasionally glancing back at Peter. He was awake now, picking at the hem of his sweater and looking around.

 

”I want to admit him, though, mainly because of his inability to accept fluids and nutrition, much less medicine. He’d do good with at least some painkillers. So I’m proposing that we send you guys upstairs right away to get him started on everything.” 

 

The doctor was on the young side, but was doing a good job at calming Tony down as they were discussing Peter. Tony knew how visible his anxious feelings were, but he couldn’t help it without Steve there. ”Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks for being so quick about everything, by the way. Our security guard isn’t the biggest fan of open floor plans, makes him stressed. It’ll help to be in a room.”

 

The doctor smiled knowingly, knowing that Happy wasn’t the only one glad for the change of area. ”I’ll send a nurse over to you with a wheelchair, she’ll help you guys upstairs to pediatrics.”

 

Tony returned to Peter and Happy, caressing Peter on his cheek. The lights were brighter in the ER than what Peter was used to, Tony imagined it wasn’t helping the headache. ”Hey bud, we’re staying over here tonight. A nurse is going to come over and help us upstairs. That sound okay?” He was sitting the the edge of the bed, facing his son. ”Yeah. Needles, though, right?” Tony smiled. ”Yeah, it’s gonna be a few tonight. I’ll be there, though.”

 

”Happy, will you join us upstairs before you go home? I’ll give you two weeks paid vacation as soon as Steve and the others are back for working so late tonight, promise.”

 

”I’m just glad you’ll let me help, sir. It’s hard not to worry.” 

 

”You got that right.”

 

-

 

”Here’s your room, Peter! I think you’re going to do fine here, it’s private and quiet, but not too far from the living room. You get to spend today in bed, though, and we’re going to start you up on a couple of bags of fancy water. It’ll refuel your body with what it needs give you a little pain relief, and hopefully you’ll be able to eat something small later. For now, get settled with your dad while I go get some equipment.” The nurse was a tad too chirpy to fool fourteen year old Peter, but he supposed her attitude and voice helped the younger children. He nodded weakly from his chair as she spoke, taking Tony’s hand when it was offered.

 

”Tell me what you’re thinking of, Pete.” Happy had just left to go home, and it was only the two of them left. His dad was helping him out of sweatpants and hoodie, and into the hospital shirt. It was eight in the evening, and Peter would be spending all his time under the covers.

 

”Nothing special, really. IVs, papa, that nurses voice,” Peter said, actually feeling coherent for the first time since that morning. Tony smirked, and Peter saw him take a quick look towards the door to make sure no one heard them. ”Yeah, if that’s not sunshine and flowers in a voice, I don’t know what is.”

 

When Peter was settled in his bed, his dad kept fretting about Peter’s things. He was folding and refolding clothes, putting them in their overnight bag. It was currently his fourth time telling Peter how sorry he was for not bringing a laptop or a tablet. Peter couldn’t care less, he was too tired to do anything that evening either way. 

 

Then the nurse came in with all the stuff, and Peter couldn’t help but shed a couple of tears onto dad’s shoulder. It wasn’t that he was _scared_ of needles. More like a strong dislike because of the discomfort they brought. A strong dislike that made his palms sweaty and his body shivering.

 

”Hey, Pete! Look who’s calling, it’s papa!” Tony exclaimed, startling Peter. It was almost ten, and Peter had been trying to get some food down. Tony had fed him a couple of pieces, but Peter had to reload his energy to want to chew more. Dad answered the call and put him on speaker right away.

 

-

 

”Hello, you’ve reached Lennox Hill Hospital, how may I help you?” Tony mocked the answering lady, getting a smile from Peter.

 

” _Ha ha_ , very funny. How’s peter?”

 

”Peter’s right here with us honey, you’re on speaker. He’s tired, trying to eat a bit before going to bed. Right, bud?”

 

”Yeah, I’m gonna eat some more soon. Papa, they gave me needles again!” 

 

”So they didn’t listen to your proposal from last time? How rude of them. Oh well, I guess they give you everything they think can help you get better”

 

Tony listened to the two chatting. He smiled. The reason Steve was calling at this time had to be good.

 

”So listen, Tony are you there too?”

 

”I’m here”

 

”All right. So we’re all on our way back to the jet now, the flight takes about eight hours, then two hours of debriefing. So I was thinking that before you go to bed tonight, Pete, you and dad should make me a list and text it to me. I can bring some extra clothing or stuff you may need at the tower, get changed, then I’ll be right over. So I think that’s gonna place me in your room between nine and ten tomorrow morning, how does that sound?”

 

”Sounds great, papa.”

 

”Yeah, that’ll be good. Safe travels, love you”

 

”Love you too”

 

”Love you, pops!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


	7. Saturday

Steve was aching. He had skipped the ”relax, gather your thoughts and give your body some fuel” part of debrief so that he could go home sooner.

Exiting the elevator on the first floor of the penthouse, Steve could see signs of a stressed Tony having been there before him. See, Tony didn’t mind a bit of clutter here and there, but he was a stickler for all cabinet doors to always be shut. ”I don’t see the hassle with closing a drawer or door when you’re finished!” He always said. But as Steve took a walkthrough of the place, it was evident that tony had gathered necessities for Peter such as his meds and paperwork, a bit of food and drinks, clothes for the two of them and an overnight bag. 

Steve had gotten a list of things he was bringing to the hospital, but gave himself ten minutes to straighten the couch pillows, close drawers and cabinets and make the beds. Then he showered. Steve usually loved post-mission showers as it was the one time he truly let himself take as much time as needed, but this time it was a hassle. The shower was meant to be as quick as his everyday one, but there was so much dust and grime that he used some extra time. 

Once he had called downstairs to the coffee shop, making them have a bag of light sandwiches ready for when he left, he gathered the items on his list. Warm socks for Peter. Peter’s blanket and his tablet. 3 chargers. Tony’s tablet and glasses. Warm socks for tony. Clothes for kid: Three sweatpants, three t-shirts, zip up hoodie, five pairs of boxers and a couple of pairs of socks. Food for dads.

-

Steve walked through the doors of the hospital that lead him to the elevators. He knew the place all to well, but he had stopped thinking such thoughts years back. Peter was going to be fine, Steve knew that. It would never be a delightful experience to be in hospital for either of them, but a routine had formed that made things a little easier.

”Mr. Rogers! Long time, no see, right?” Steve held the doors open to the owner of the voice, a doctor who had worked in the pediatric ward for as long as Steve could remember. ”Hey, dr. Garcia. Yeah, it’s been over a year this time. He’s just gotten his ADHD diagnose, though. That’s what we spent out christmas break on.” The doctor nodded. He probably already knew since there was only two doctors on call the weekend, he had to have read Peter’s file. 

”Yes, right. And how is that working out so far?”

”Well, meds are great. We really hit the jackpot with one of them, just hoping he doesn’t lose the effect as time passes. He doesn’t love to talk about it, he’s still working on pushing that… Shame away. He hasn’t told anyone on his own yet.”

The doctor nodded along. ”Ah, well, teenage boys, am i right?” Steve laughed. ”Yeah, I guess. Hey, are you going up to the ward now?”

The doctor wasn’t, but they agreed for him to stop by once he came back, to look at Peter and inform both parents of the updated situation.

-

Tony was caressing Peter’s forearm that was lying on top of the covers. It was nine thirty, and Peter’s breakfast had just been taken away, untouched. The boy had woken up feeling worse again, barely bothering to talk, needing help to get to the bathroom. He was just lying there, staring at different objects around the room. Sometimes at Tony. Tony didn’t pay much attention to the numbers, but the nurses were checking his fever every hour. 

The door opened and Tony supposed another hour had passed, but Peter didn’t glance up and then away. He looked up at the door and for a second, his whole face lit up. ”Papa”

”Hey boys, I come bearing stuff!” Steve exclaimed, and placed the bad on the bed. ”Blanket for Peter, there you go. Warm socks for both of you, and tablets, you’re welcome. Glasses for my love. Hi, honey.” Steve was over by Tony now, hoisting him up. Tony’s back creaked. Yeah, Steve knew a hunched over back when he saw one. Steve put the glasses on Tony’s nose, and kissed him. Light, quick. ”Welcome home, dearest” Tony whispered.

”Then my turn!” Came from the bed, when they didn’t break apart from the embrace right away. Steve smiled and let go. ”Then baby boy’s turn. How are you, sugar?” Tony sat back down in his chair as Steve rested on the bed. Tony could see the excitement of having his papa back was wearing off, and Peter’s eyes went back to that slightly pained but otherwise empty look. 

It wasn’t long before dr. Garcia came in. Steve and Tony had just eaten some of the sandwiches Steve had brought, and they had placed Peters clothes in the dresser. From the way their son was looking at the moment, they were surely staying through the weekend at least.

”Hello, Peter. It’s good seeing you again.” The doctor sat down on the chair by Peters bed so that they could easily maintain eye contact, and Tony dragged Steve over to the other side of the bed. ”Do you remember us speaking briefly last night?” Peter nodded weakly.

”That’s good. Now, how are you feeling today, as opposed to what you told me then?” He leant forward just enough to keep Peter looking at him, but still not getting too close. Tony had always liked dr. Garcia, he was a good match for Peter’s personality and needs.

”Worse.” The boy muttered, clearly not wanting to elaborate. ”Worse, huh? I can see you’re more exhausted now than what you were last night. I observed you being in a better mood and talking more than now.” The doctor put his hand over Peter’s forehead and felt along his neck. ”Is the pain worse too, or just the tiredness?” 

”Everything is worse. Dizzier too.”

”Is that when you get up and try to walk, or do you get dizzy lying in your bed too?”

Peter shrugged, only mumbling a ”Only when I stand” as he turned his head around, nuzzling into Tony’s hand that was resting on Peter’s shoulder. The doctor nodded, mostly to himself, getting up, sensing that Peter had declared the conversation over. Then he locked eyes with Tony and Steve. ”If you guys would give me twenty minutes to read up on his previous files, I’d appreciate that. Then it’d be nice if you could both come find me at the nurses station. I’ll fill you in on what I’m thinking. Okay?” The pair nodded in response. Tony glanced at the time to keep track, but his eyes were soon back to Peter, who was looking dead on his feet. ”I’ll see you later today, Peter”

Steve crouched down. ”Bud, I was wondering if we should get you in the bathroom, get you some clothing? Then you could take a nap while dad and I talk to dr. Garcia?” He was stroking Peter’s arm, just rough enough for it to be stimulating instead of relaxing. Peter groaned. ”It’ll probably give you some sense of day instead of being stuck in pajamas all the time.” Tony added, trying to sound motivating. It wasn’t easy, he knew how uncomfortable it was for Peter to move. ”I think I saw a ham and cheese sandwich in papa’s paper bag. You could have a go at that, if you’d like? C’mon, Pete. We’ll help.” Peter sighed and started pushing the blankets away.

”There you go. Hold on a sec, Pete, just sit here for a minute, take a break. Steve, you getting the fuzzy socks?” As they pulled on a sock each, Peter grabbed hold of their shoulders, scooching forward to get out of bed. Steve took hold of him as Tony went to find new clothes, all of them meeting in the bathroom where Peter was sitting on the toilet. ”We’ll give you a couple of minutes, Pete. Let us know when you’re done, if you need help with anything.” Steve soothed, closing the door behind them. They were lucky to have gotten a single room. There weren’t a lot of patients in at the moment, so both the staff and the physical environment was calm and quiet.

As they were outside, Tony let out a shaky sigh. Steve had sat on the bed, and was patting the spot beside him. Tony leaned into his husband as he sat down. He was so relieved that Steve was back in time for this, he needed his other half by his side to function properly. ”It’s been such a long time, seeing him like this. It hurts so much, Steve” 

”I know. But it’s just temporary, we know that. It looks and feel worse than it is. Remember when he was eight?” 

”Yeah. Yeah, we’ll be fine. Temporary. Just temporary.”

As Tony returned to the bathroom, Peter had gotten up on his own and was washing his hands. ”C’mere kid, sit on the toilet lid.” Tony was bunching up soft sweatpants for Peter to step into. 

By the time they had managed to change all of Peter’s clothes, smooth down his hair and wash his face, the boy was physically exhausted, resulting in Steve picking him up to carry to bed. 

”Do you want to try and sleep a little? We’ll be right across the hall, so you can just press the button if you need anything.” Tony said, once they had gotten Peter settled in the newly made bed, courtesy of Steve. ”All right. I’m pretty tired. See you guys later.”

-

Peter blinked, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. That certainly didn’t look like his room, or the master. Oh, pain everywhere? He couldn’t breathe through his nose. The room was spinning slightly as he tried sitting up. Oh, right, the hospital. Wait. Fathers?

Peter couldn’t think anything else before he saw papa emerging from the bathroom. ”Hi bud, I thought you were asleep!” Peter rubbed a hand over his face. ”Was”

”Right. How are you? Let’s see if we can sit you up for a bit,” Steve fiddled with the controller doing nothing, so peter snatched it from him and drove his bed into a more upright position. Steve sat on the bed, and Peter slumped forward to bury his face in a hug. Although he was physically tired all over, Peter didn’t feel like he was going to fall asleep anymore. 

”Node is duffed, baba. Ca’dt breathe” Peter pouted. Steve smiled gently. ”I can hear so. Does that mean my timing is really bad as I ask you if you’d like a sandwich? Lunch isn’t for another while.” A sandwich did actually sound good, he hadn’t eaten much the past couple of days. ”I’ll try sobe. Where’s dad?”

While steve rolled the bed table over and dished up Peter’s favourite sandwich and a small packet of crisps, he explained how Tony had gone home to shower, update their family and prepare for next week. Dr. Garcia had told them to prepare to stay for a few days, so Steve and Tony would be switching between sleeping at the hospital with Peter, so that they could also go to work every other day.

”So's dad godda cob back tobowow?” Peter couldn’t stop himself from worrying. Tony had left while he was asleep, and wasn’t coming back until the next day? It wasn’t like him. But papa shook his head, smiling. ”No, he’s coming back later today, we’re both spending our days here now that it’s weekend” He explained. Well, that was a relief.

Peter didn’t feel his eyes and head hurting as much, so he asked for his phone and starkpad. He had some serious social media time to catch up on, so he settled with some old episodes of his favourite show on the pad while scrolling, liking, posting and answering.

-

Tony had stopped by Rhodey’s place to update him on Peter, but Rhodey was in the shower after getting home from the mission so Tony settled on the couch while he waited. 

As he scrolled through instagram, he saw that @peter.bsr had been active again. A few insta stories were stating how _incredibly_ bored he was. He had posted a selfie too, showing off his vein cannula. The caption read ”Back in hospital with flu, literally cannot breathe through my nose ew”. A second post was showing off a sleeping Steve, captioned ”I thought I was the one needing rest???” Tony smiled to himself. 

Knowing Steve, he hadn’t slept properly since before the mission started. That night, before he left the hospital to go home, he made sure Steve was given a bed of his own to rest on. When Steve fell asleep before Tony even left the room, he spent a few extra minutes cuddling Peter so both his boys was asleep as he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


	8. Sunday

Tony woke up bright and early as he always did sundays. It was usually to prepare some food before putting the slow-cooking roast in the oven, but sunday family dinner was obviously canceled that day. He decided to skip right to tidying the apartment anyway. The dishwasher was emptied, shoes in the hallway carried to closets, nicknacks returned to their usual spots. Rhodey’s dvds were placed by the elevator to be picked up or delivered. The place was so empty Tony found it a bit creepy, so after organizing Peter’s pile of comic books and selecting a couple of new ones to bring to the hospital, he went to the gym.

 

The workout was long although not intense, but Tony enjoyed not feeling as overwhelmed by the emptiness of the penthouse. He wanted to go to the hospital right away, but had decided not to break visiting hours, so he had to wait until it was past eleven to leave. The pediatrics ward had been quiet throughout the weekend and the nurses had told them to come and go as they wanted, but he knew the set hours were there for a reason. He had stayed later than usual the previous night, and was honestly hoping that Steve and Peter were still sleeping.

 

After showering, cooking himself breakfast and packing up some more stuff that could occupy Peter if he was getting bored, Tony left. On his way, he stopped at the closest corner store where they always sold what Peter thought was the best diced fruit in the world. He supposed he’d have to ask a nurse on his way in if Peter could have it so close to lunch, but he had a suspicion the boy hadn’t eaten a lot for breakfast so it would be fine.

 

-

 

Peter was awake, but felt like he was in a different reality. He could barely keep his eyes open, everything hurt slightly, and he couldn’t even be bothered to shift into a comfortable position. Papa was always in the room, usually sitting in the chair by his bed but occasionally stretching his legs by walking around the room. Thankfully, he left Peter mostly alone besides caressing his cheek from time to time.

 

Nurses came in occasionally checking on Peter. They had tried a bit of breakfast, but Peter’s throat hurt even swallowing his own spit, let alone food. He hadn’t gotten much down, despite his papa helping and motivating the best he could. And Peter was coughing now, deep coughs racketing through his whole body, hurting so badly but he wasn’t able to stop them from coming.

 

Peter heard the door opening, but he was slumbering and looking at the sky outside, so he didn’t bother to acknowledge the nurse who was putting a hand on his arm. A rough skinned but gentle hand that moved up to push his hair away from his face. Then a dip in the bed beside him. Wait… Dad?

 

”Yeah, it’s me. Hey, squirt. I thought you were sleeping, you were laying so still. How are you feeling?” Peter turned towards his dad and reached his arms out. Tony didn’t need more prompting to sneak his hands under Peter’s back and lift him up to a sitting position. Peter sighed as he relaxed towards his dad, resting his chin on the shoulder in front of him.

 

They sat that way for several minutes, listening to each others breathing. Dad rubbed his back for a while, gently since Peter’s entire body was sensitive and sore. He saw Steve through hooded eyes, unpacking a paper bag. He didn’t pay attention to what came out before a box was held in front if his face. Peter focused and saw fruit mix from the corner store. He looked over at Steve, and nodded at his papa’s questioning face. He felt dad turn around to see what was going on before raising the mattress to keep Peter sitting up. 

 

It felt good being taken care of like that. He had been in hospital many times throughout his childhood. At home he was cuddly and relied a lot on touch like his fathers, but was still adamant on doing things himself and not relying too much on the help from his dads. But there had been times in hospital where he didn’t really have a choice, and preferred dad and papa to help him instead of nurses. Because of that, hospital became an exception to his own rule. If he felt the need for help to anything and everything, he accepted what was offered. There were never anyone else visiting unless Peter felt like it anyway, just the three of them.

 

So Tony climbed into bed behind him, so Peter could rest against his dad’s chest while Steve plated up the fruit and kept it in his lap. Peter felt them looking at him, then looking at each other, having some silent conversation before a grape was presented to him. A conversation was started between the two, talking lightly. Peter could feel Tony’s chest rumble behind him, and found the slight movements calming. As he listened to his parents speak, Peter accepted a few more pieces of fruit. 

 

-

 

Day was turning to night in Peter’s hospital room. After Peter had eaten a bit of fruit and then some of the lunch he was served, he had fallen asleep. Steve had taken Tony out for lunch across the street from the hospital, getting some one-on-one time but still staying close. They had spoken a bit about Peter, about SI, shield, Sam’s present for his upcoming birthday and the trip they were planning to the Maldives. 

 

Peter had been sleeping when they got back in, but had woken up shortly after. Tony had seen a colouring book and crayons set in the hallway of the ward as they came back in, and had excitedly presented it to Peter. They had both received ridiculously mean glares at this, but he had taken to colouring for a while after that. It had become almost a theme that Peter gradually felt better as the day progressed. At around five, he had even walked to the bathroom all on his own. He had needed help on his way back, but Steve felt he could count it as a win. 

 

Steve was sat on the other end of Peter’s bed, cross legged and focused. He and Peter were engrossed in a comic book each as Tony did some work on his tablet. It was a quiet, but peaceful scene. Steve noticed that Peter was moving, but smiled and looked back down as he was only picking his phone up. Peter had taken to his instagram followers for entertainment the previous night when he was able to look at a screen without his head hurting too bad. Steve thought to himself that was what he was planning to do again. So when he noticed a phone tilted towards himself, then panning over to his husband, he wasn’t surprised. 

 

“Pete?” The phone was quickly turned towards himself again, take obviously still rolling. “Yeah?” 

 

“Don’t post your dad’s confidential emails on the instagram.”

 

“Oh.”

 

The phone was lowered.

 

A while later, Steve remembered the paperwork from the mission that he was supposed to have done by monday. Tony was staying the night at the hospital so Steve could go in to work the next day, and they were going to go in shifts until they could take their son home. 

 

As he took a look around the room, he missed placing that vibe in their lounge at home with a healthy Peter. Their kid loved spending time with them, they knew that, but he was always so busy nowadays and with his ADHD fueled brain, they could never make him sit down with them and do nothing. It was always two things at a time with Peter. Watching a movie together and talking over it. Playing video games and chatting to his friends. Reading comics and blasting music so loud that the SI executive’s floor could hear it. It was rarely peaceful, quiet and one thing at a time. Not that he’d change a thing about Peter, the boy was perfect in Steve’s eyes. But Steve knew that Peter enjoyed slowing down too, he just never got in the mood to actually do it. Yeah, they really needed that vacation. 

 

“Guys, I think I’m going home now. I have a lot of paperwork that has to be in by tonight, so I better get started. Pete, if you need anything, just text me. I’ll stop by the tower on my way here tomorrow.”

 

The two others just nodded and gave him a little grunt, busy with their devices. Nope, that’s not the goodbye he was getting. Steve snatched the starkpad from Tony’s hands and the phone from Peter’s.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Um excuse me, I was doing something!”

 

“Hi. Hello. It’s me, the once beloved, now forgotten and ignored Steve Rogers. I’m leaving, not seeing either of you until tomorrow. Now, I’m down on hugs and kisses and I’ve been here all day!”

 

If Peter wasn’t already flushed, he would have. Tony snatched back his tablet, but said he’d walk him out. 

 

“Say bye to papa, Pete”

 

Then it was time for Steve to get his cuddles.

 

“You be good for dad, alright? Maybe take a shower tonight, actually. Remember you’ve been sweating on and off the entire weekend, and the doctor’s going to come check on you tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah all right, you go home now, papa. You don’t get to dictate what dad and I do when you’re not there”

 

“All right, okay, I can see where I’m not welcome anymore. That’s fine, I’m leaving... Love you.”

 

“Love you too”

 

Out in the hallway, Tony grabbed Steve’s hand as they strolled towards the exit. “You’re making sure he showers, right?”

 

“Yeah, definitely. Smells like a mixture of sick and teenager in there, I'll suffocate if I have to sleep in it.”

 

“Hey T? Do you think we should do that vacation sooner than easter? I was just thinking we could all need a bit of relaxation. Think about it babe, it’s the last term where he’s not in high school. We can’t take him out of school anymore when he starts there!”

 

Tony looked thoughtful. He wasn’t a big fan of making Peter miss out on routine and schoolwork. But Peter was smart enough to catch up even before they left, and the school was pretty lenient. 

 

“Please. Let me look up something tomorrow and you can look at it when you get home tomorrow night. I’d say we should leave in a couple of weeks, maybe three. What do you say, can I toss a couple of proposals your way?”

 

“Okay, fine. We don’t tell Peter until everything is sorted, though. Yes?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I love you so much, Steve”

 

“I love you too, honey”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this! It very quickly became way longer than anticipated, I'm sorry if you thought it was too long.
> 
> If you enjoyed this work I'd very much appreciate a kudos or a comment! I'm also always available to talk on tumblr, under the username "lerums" :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> I appreciate kudos and comments if you liked it, and I'm also available to talk on my tumblr at the username "lerums".


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